For the last four weeks, I have been going to motorcycle club events, and riding with my brothers all over Southern California. I pretty much started going out again approximately two weeks after my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
The first event I went to about four weeks ago, I wore my mask for most of the event. Now with the new CDC guidelines, I am no longer wearing the mask.
I am a long-time motorcycle rider and biker. There are many things in life that give people pleasure such as eating, sex, vacations, conversations, etc. For me apart from sex, the thing that gives me the most pleasure is getting on my motorcycle and riding.
Since last March 2020 due to pre-existing conditions and my age, I was hunkered down socially distancing, and not going anywhere. I personally know two guys in a motorcycle club who died, one of my wife’s high school friends died, and almost 600,000 Americans have died of coronavirus. No matter what your politics are, the coronavirus does not care.
Many guys in my club are much younger and lower risk for coronavirus then I am. They have been riding and going out all long as though nothing was wrong. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was their age because I’m not. I do know this; my wife and I are alive. The precautions we took mean that we are okay and alive.
Both of us are fully vaccinated and in the last few weeks we have loosened up. All of our meals since last March 2020 were home cooked. We have now begun ordering food and picking up food. I have actually gained a few pounds from all the junk food that I was not eating for over a year.
Another big thing about being in quarantine since March 2020, I got out of shape big time. When you are younger and you sit around and do nothing, you can bounce back in a few weeks when you start working out again. When you are older it takes longer to bounce back, and you have to go at a slower pace when you start working out again. I have not begun working out again I will do so this Monday.
The reason I am telling you all about this is because after each ride that I did over the last four weeks I was completely spent afterwards. The average ride was approximately a hundred 160 miles round-trip which is not a long trip. Some are little bit more; some are little bit less. Plus, when I got to the events where motorcycle clubs are hanging out standing around there for a few hours in the sun takes it out of you as well.
Although my wife Little Teri is still in school, I have already made reservations and purchased a camping spot at the Sturgis motorcycle rally 2021. I am just now building up my endurance and getting my sea legs back on the bike. I am still a little leery about riding in the pack with my motorcycle club, opting to ride in the back until I get my sea legs back. Let me tell you, the club I ride with are hard chargers on the road, riding side-by-side, and inches apart from each other front to back. In Southern California traffic, when the hand single is given, we will split lanes in a single file line. We’re the only state in the union that allows this, and it is much hairier when you’re in a club pack.
Finally, yesterday, I started feeling really good being back on the motorcycle again. Don’t let anybody fool you, riding a motorcycle is not like riding a bicycle. It takes time to get back in the saddle again if you have not ridden in a while. I ride an Indian Roadmaster, which is a very big and heavy bike.
Even riding with a club brother to me was uncomfortable at first because I felt like I needed the lane to get used to being on the bike again. Yes, in California we ride side-by-side in one lane.
If you have been off the motorcycle for a while, I suggest riding on your own to get your sea legs back and become comfortable again before you join a pack. Most of you when you ride in a pack are in a staggered formation with civilians which is fine. But if you going to ride with a hard charging club you definitely want to become comfortable on the motorcycle again before you join the pack. Don’t let peer pressure take you beyond your comfort level.
I don’t want to speak precipitously, but it looks to me like the coronavirus pandemic is winding down here in the United States. There are still too many deaths and two cases per day, but it looks like it is winding down.
You would be an idiot not to get a coronavirus vaccine at this point. Over 30% of Americans have been vaccinated which amounts to over 100 million. The vaccine is obviously safe otherwise many many people would have either died or become sick from the vaccine. There are still dumb shit’s who will not get the vaccine. It is these people that will make the coronavirus continue to spread, and these people who will die when they simply could’ve got a shot to avoid it.
Who knows how long it will take for life to get back to normal both here and throughout the world? At least in my world things are slowly returning back to normal. On the work and my law firm is super busy. As a matter fact, we have never been this busy before. This is a good thing for most businesses, but for us the coronavirus pandemic has made things a bit more difficult because we are remote working.
All I can say is at this point is I cannot wait to ride my bike this summer and to be in Sturgis again and I thank God for those scientists who created the vaccine so that this could be possible. I hear that we may have to take a booster shot again within a year, and that is fine.
For you loyal readers of the Biker Law Blog, there will be more articles forthcoming because I am back in the saddle again.
For all you on the road riding your motorcycle be safe and God be with you as we enjoy being bikers.
By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney, Norman Gregory Fernandez, May 23, 2021
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